The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has signed an agreement for an export credit line of US$100mn, with Gazprombank, the third largest commercial bank in Russia.

This will support Russian companies importing machinery and equipment from Japan, via Gazprombank.  It will finance Japanese exports including gas, oil and other energy-related projects, as well as telecommunications technology, manufacturing, and infrastructure development projects using their energy. These are sectors in which Gazprombank has been dealing and where Japanese firms excel in both technology and expertise.

Japanese firms are doing more business with Russia, as a result of its high economic growth in recent years, created by the growing domestic industry and high oil prices.

This increase in activity has led JBIC to receive a large number of requests to provide a credit line from Japanese companies seeking to increase transactions with Russian firms operating in these sectors.